Steam now offers Jagged Alliance - Back in Action, the Jagged Alliance 2 remake. Here's an overview of the game:

Designed from the ground up to offer a modern gaming experience, Back in Action showcases an updated isometric 3D look and interface, highly detailed character models and a variety of new gameplay features. Back in Action takes players to the fictitious country of Arulco, where a ruthless dictator has seized power and only a small group of rebels stand to resist him. Tasked with freeing the island from the dictator’s iron grip, players will command rebel and mercenary forces while using tactical, diplomatic and economic tools to keep troops supplied and ready for the next flight, all while commanding them directly in nail-biting battles.

Back in Action’s innovative “plan & go” combat system combines real-time strategy (RTS) with turn-based elements to guarantee that the intricacies of tactical warfare are rendered in dynamic, exciting gameplay. This challenges would-be commanders to master not only strategy and tactical combat, but also to maximize their team’s capabilities through RPG-like character advancement.

Dmitri_M wrote on Feb 11, 2012, 11:15:Why would anyone want to play this when JA2 and the 1.13 mod are still eminently playable.

And people wonder why developers don't make more games like this, when people refuse to even try new games in favor of playing 10 year old games.

The reason I'm playing it is because I bought it and I tend to like playing games I bought. The reason I bought it is because I actually like developers to make games in this particular genre, instead of just giving up on the whole subsection of games people won't buy anything new when "JA2 is still eminently playable".

Incidentally, people are already making rudimentary mod tools. The first of which allows you to modify the stats of mercs, so you can create one to your liking out of the lower tier mercs. Not as nice as having an in-game system to create a balanced custom merc, and you'll have to make do with that particular merc's picture and voice for now, but it's a start and a way to get one with a unique set of stats and perks that you like.

I really want to like this game, and I'm trying to be as objective as possible as I play it. However, the lack of fog of war just removes almost all the tension that battles in the original game had for me. You never knew when you opened that door if there might be a guy with an assault rifle on the other side of it. Being able to see every enemy on the map just seems to trivialize the tactical experience (although the gunfights still seem super deadly). It would make sense that they simply disabled fog of war, too, since your mercs still spot enemies on their own. Hopefully they re-implement this later. Or at worst, maybe with as much modding as JA2 got, this whole game could become something better.

Also, no personal mercenary? What the hell?! "Robocop vs Bill Gates", I was all set to answer questions like this again and make my own in-game avatar, and it's super disappointing not to have the option. It's hard to believe it's purely about balance, because you'll simply have to buy a mercenary that fits the role your own merc would have fit, anyway.

eRe4s3r wrote on Feb 10, 2012, 11:16:What else can i compare it to but the top reference.. true its a mod but it still enhances the core game this remake is supposed to be remaking.

Thats the first thing a remake should have taken inspiration from, no? Modders literally already made a JA2 remake, and thats JA2 1.13 - the standard reference for this genre with no equal.

As someone else has mentioned, it would be awesome if they could have done this but at the same time, that mod has been in development for 7 years. Yes, just the mod alone. Considering that, plus the near 5 year development time for JA2 and you've got a development timeline that is impossible to match for any but the largest and most well funded studios, and none of them would be willing to spend that much time on a genre that isn't in vogue at the moment, not to mention on a single platform.

I'd love to have seen a lot of the features from 1.13 make it into the game, I'd love to have seen most of the features taken out from vanilla in the game, but neither is really likely to happen. For now I'll enjoy the game for what it is, and I'll keep bugging the developers to implement new (or old) features.

They've already said they've not ruled out fog of war as an option in the future. They said they tried it and it 'wasn't fun', which is a pretty idiotic thing to say, but with enough cajoling we might get them to put it back in as an option at the very least.

To each their own, but unlike some here I'd rather support a developer that is remaking or continuing titles I enjoy and encourage them to try and improve, rather than refuse to buy and insult the devs until no one bothers making these games again, ever.

As I said earlier in the thread, the game has been decent fun for me and as far as I'm concerned, it's a solid game. It's not as good as the original, but if people are only going to accept a game as "good" if it's better than arguably the best tactical game of all time, then all they've done is guarantee their own perpetual disappointment.

JoeNapalm wrote on Feb 10, 2012, 10:13:Eh, I'm a huge JA fan...and amazingly, it's not the Real-Time-with-Pause thing that bothers me, so far (BE5, while tragically flawed, convinced me that RTWP can work).

What is keeping me from playing the game, right now, is that Back in Action, as a remake, has a whole laundry list of major features that they simply tore out.

yeh, i'll add that it doesnt have stealth mode, or climbing.. which are entirely fucking essential to JA2.. as well as destructible walls, etc, that you mentioned

You can add that all you want, it doesn't make it true. There is climbing, but yes only in specific locations (ladders), so you can still get on the majority of the rooftops. It'd be nice you could climb just about anything, but that doesn't make the current ability to climb on top of buildings suddenly not exist.

Destructible walls are the same deal, they exist, but only in specific locations. Not ideal, but again, they exist.

As for stealth mode, there's no 'mode' anymore. It's built into the entire game system. The closer you are to lights and the front of an enemy's field of view, the more likely they are to see you. The stance you choose (standing firing position, running, crouching and prone) all define how much noise you make along with your stealth stat. As well, there's a camouflage system wherein the clothing you're wearing affects your stealth level if you're in the right area for it (urban camo doesn't help as much in forests, and vice versa).

There's also a bar on your character icon that shows your current likelihood to be noticed.

The stealth system is VASTLY improved over the original JA2's, particularly when combined with the camo system.

But yeah, go ahead and keep making stuff up. Don't let the truth get in the way of your game bashing.

eRe4s3r wrote on Feb 10, 2012, 02:28:2) You can see all enemies on the map and their weapons and their patrol routes and their health. BAD

That seems like a game breaker right there.

Having to select scripts for character action then pressing play no matter how many times you can pause removes the interaction too much. I'd rather watch a movie remake. Or a speed run with magic, damn that snapperhead was smooth.

No climbing?There were many sectors of JA2 I'd never have beaten without taking to the roof. For one, many buildings let you move around unseen on the roof, and pretty much safe. For another, I loved putting on guy directly above a doorway with hollow points, having another act as bait, and just exploding the head of any guy walking through the doorway to investigate.

eRe4s3r wrote on Feb 10, 2012, 11:16:What else can i compare it to but the top reference.. true its a mod but it still enhances the core game this remake is supposed to be remaking.

Thats the first thing a remake should have taken inspiration from, no? Modders literally already made a JA2 remake, and thats JA2 1.13 - the standard reference for this genre with no equal.

What's amazing is that they're the fourth or fifth studio to do this.Strategy First had a few start. None finished. A few games got released as non-JA games. And they sucked. Then the fan-made sequel came out, again not as a JA game, and it sucked.

It's like all those UFO games that are spiritual successors to X-COM. They've all been awful. It's part uncanny valley ("This gun doesn't fire exactly the same and therefore makes me queasy!") and partly just that the people making these games are talentless hacks with no clue what they're doing.

I've lost count of the number of times a great IP has been used this way...

I'll never understand the mentality of "Lets take something a ton of people love and then crap all over it!" as a sales mechanism.

I mourn SirTech. All of their games were huge pains in the butt on some level or another, but they had such depth and character.

eRe4s3r wrote on Feb 10, 2012, 11:16:What else can i compare it to but the top reference.. true its a mod but it still enhances the core game this remake is supposed to be remaking.

Thats the first thing a remake should have taken inspiration from, no? Modders literally already made a JA2 remake, and thats JA2 1.13 - the standard reference for this genre with no equal.

What's amazing is that they're the fourth or fifth studio to do this.Strategy First had a few start. None finished. A few games got released as non-JA games. And they sucked. Then the fan-made sequel came out, again not as a JA game, and it sucked.

It's like all those UFO games that are spiritual successors to X-COM. They've all been awful. It's part uncanny valley ("This gun doesn't fire exactly the same and therefore makes me queasy!") and partly just that the people making these games are talentless hacks with no clue what they're doing.

Yeah, its really baffling no? You have a perfect game with JA2 1.13 that just needs some "lift" into the modern age, some usability features, slightly better graphics and sounds.

What do they do? Totally mess up the core game and now.. its not Jagged Alliance anymore. Gaah. Theres only 1 thing worse than bad games, thats bad PSEUDO remakes of great games that abuse the name of a great game and forever drag it down into the mud as an abomination.

eRe4s3r wrote on Feb 10, 2012, 07:25:I think you should play JA2 1.13 and equip a sniper rifle with scope and bipod and try aiming at things to see what i mean with 1.2 And for suppression mechanic.. i'd advice you start up JA2 1.13 with a MG and ctrl+fire across an area...As for destruction, i'd advice equipping some TNT and planting it around in each corner of a building and try it out, if thats minor for you, then what do you consider the laughable joke of a destruction system in this remake?

As for 1.1 start up JA2 1.13 with a solder that has agility (or whatever it was called, dexterity) and camp around a corner and wait till an enemy walks around it, thats an interrupt. The instant reaction of your merc - where he can shoot at opportunity targets.

As for 3) They do so automatically with a huge delay, making that setting entirely pointless in a "camping at a corner and waiting for a guy to walk by" situation. I tried this 5 times, in all 5 times the guy with a machete walked up to my merc before he could fire. That was in crouched position with a loaded gun.

4) As i said, there is 2 vital stop points missing in the menu.5) There is no setting anywhere to toggle aimed mode like it worked in JA2

6) Is absolutely true, cover mechanic as in hugging a wall (not a JA2 feature but in a 3d-game i expect this to be there)

Just too lazy to detail each point, game is crap when compared to JA2 1.13 thats all there is to say.

JA2 1.13 is a modded-to-death version of the vanilla JA2. The modding community probably sank more time into creating that than any game developer ever did on their game and as such it's just not fair to compare.

eRe4s3r wrote on Feb 10, 2012, 08:11:The reason people bash that system is not that it doesn't work, but with the removal of AP they broke the whole concept of JA - not to mention the entire balance, now the AI has to be gimped because it can always react faster than we can. This system literally TAKES control , which is a completely silly concept in a remake of a game that was all about TOTAL control (of character/Weapon/etc.).

To put it another way: This game is NOT Jagged Alliance. At all. What an utter fuck-up of a "can't miss" concept. I guess next this developer is going to show the world how to fuck up a bread sandwhich. Like a JA remake, you'd think it would be impossible to fuck up. But where there's a will there's a way.

The next journalist who calls this abomination a "remake" is getting a slap.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi